The application of rhodium catalysts for synthesis of linear amides in high productivity appears to be a concept not previously researched in the art.
In Journal of Organic Chemistry 36, No. 25 (1971) 3927 Iwashita and Sakuraba describe a one-step synthesis of imidazoles using a rhodium catalyst, an olefin and ammonia by the route of olefin carbonylation in the presence of ammonia.
It is taught in the art that a cobalt catalyst can be used for the conversion of an unsaturated amide into a succinimide. A cobalt catalyst can also be used for imide and cyclic amide (lactam) synthesis. See J. Falbe New Synthesis With Carbon Monoxide, 1980, p. 285 and 415-419. In the same reference at page 420 there is a discussion of the use of rhodium catalyst for cyclic amide synthesis.
These references indicated that the carbonylation of a simple olefin in the presence of a primary amine to form a amide is generally affected by cobalt catalysts. Related reactions can be achieved by nickel or palladium catalysts. In the presence of hydrogen and a modified Rh catalyst, amines were produced from olefin and ammonia.
It was reported that, in the presence of NH.sub.3 and a modified Rh catalyst, the carbonylation of alkenes produced substituted dihydropyridines under the described reaction conditions. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,679,689, June 7, 1970) The reaction can be represented by: ##STR1##
These references do not appear to address the one-step, direct synthesis of various substituted and non-substituted amides such as N,N-diethylpropionamide and propionamide by the reaction of the instant invention.
It is known that N-alkyl amides are potentially useful as lubricants (See U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,551,257 to Mobil and 4,525,288 to Texaco), cosurfactants (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,263 to Phillips Petroleum) and nonionic surfactants (Japan No. 60099-074 and Japan No. 60096-696). Also the non- or mono-substituted amides are useful as starting materials for the synthesis of amidoacids.